Review: Samsung BSH700 Bluetooth Stereo Headset

I must say I was excited at the prospect of a stereo bluetooth headset for my Curve. I had only recently started listening to music on my BlackBerry, and had run into big issues with my standard iPod earbuds. Whenever I removed them from my device, I would lose sound on calls until I reset my phone - a big problem for me. So as I pulled my new Samsung BHV700 Stereo Bluetooth Headset out of the box, I was eager to get started.

Let's Get Ready to Rock!

As every good little boy should, I read the quick start guide first and realized that I had to charge the device before starting. I plugged it in and waited about 3 hours for it to achieve a full charge. When it was ready to go, I followed the simple instructions and easily paired it with my 8330 in about a minute and I was good to go.

Now when I went to actually put the headset on - I knew there was going to be an issue. I had a good amount of difficulty getting the headset to actually fit properly on my head. It is essentially one size, with no real room for adjustment (aside from the slight tilting of the earbuds) so already I wasn't doing so hot as it didn't quite sit right on my 20" head. I played with it a bit, and realized that there wasn't much to be done, so I'd have to live with the "iffy" fit. I also tried pawning it off on my girlfiend (who's head is much smaller than mine) and she ran into the problem of it not staying on at all when she moved around. So fit aside, I tried to give it my best shot.

The earbuds tilt a bit, but thats as far as the size adjustment goes

Putting it to Use

When I got ready to actually play music, I was disappointed to find out that I could couldn't use it with FlipSide, as the program doesn't support AVRCP at the moment. However this is a software issue so I really can't hold it against the Samsung. I then fired up the Blackberry Media Player, picked a song, and the headset picked right up. The sound was crisp and clear. Nothing overly impressive that blew my mind, but it did just what I needed. The sound pretty much matched that of my old iPod earbuds. Nothing of "Bose" quality, but I'm not too picky when it comes to portable music. I jumped back and forth between a few tracks and the headset followed along flawlessly. The volume has incredible range, as I could get it low enough to keep me occupied and not annoy others, or if I felt the need to blow out my eardrums I have that option as well.

Now to the usage - another slight drawback. From the get-go I noticed the buttons on the headset weren't layed out in a very user friendly manner. There are 4 sets of buttons for Call/Power, Volume, Forward/Back and Play/Pause. The only two that worked well for me were the Call/Power button and the Play/Pause - which are located over the right and left earbuds. The other buttons for Volume and Forward/Back are awkwardly located on the back of the headset. It involved a bit of memorization to get used to these as there is nothing to differentiate them at all. They are all the same size, and have no raised bumps or anything to tell them apart. I found myself looking at the user guide frequently from the start so I knew which was which. They are a bit on the small side as well which made seeking them out and pressing them a bit hard at times. Personally, once I got the volume squared away it wasn't a big issue, since I have my music on shuffle as it is, and rarely find the need to skip tracks or change the volume.

The small buttons are located on the back bottom of the headset

The Play/Pause and Call/Power buttons are located right over the ear

I was perhaps most impressed with the ability of the headset to pause and resume music when a call came in. When my Curve rang, I simply hit the Call/Power button to answer. The caller was clear and crisp, and I was told they had no problems hearing me (I was in my living room). The same caller complained of a slight bit of wind noise when I was calling from my car, but overall said it wasn't unbearable. Upon answering a call, music is paused for the duration. As soon as the call is ended, the music pics up exactly where is left off - very cool.

Overall I think the Samsung BSH700 is a good unit. My gripes are mainly that it doesn't fit my head very well (I actually got a headache after wearing it for the 30 minutes or so I tested it out). The fit is a big issue that needs to be addressed. Some of the buttons aren't in very good places, but after a bit of use I don't see it being too much of a problem. Pairing was simple, sound quality was great and it was very easy to use overall.